Shoe sole binding machines



Aug 15, 1967 F. wlLLiAMs ETAL. 3,335,683

SHOE SOLE BINDING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Feb. 25, 1965 Aug. 15,1967 F. l. WILLIAMS ETAL 3,335,583

SHOE SOLE BINDNG MACHINES Filed Feb. 23, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 UnitedStates Patent O 3,335,683 SHOE SOLE BINDING MACHINES Fordyce I.Williams, Sleepy Hollow Road, Atkinson, N.H. 03811, and Kenneth R.Bernard, 3 North Ave., Plaistow, N.H. 03865 Filed Feb. 23, 1965, Ser.No. 434,204 8 Claims. (Cl. 112-137) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE Anapparatus for attaching a binding tape to the edge of articles wherein afeed roll feeds a flat tape through curved folding guides to and overthe edge of an article, sewing the tape to the edge of the article by asewing machine which feeds the tape as it sews, and a cutter to severthe tape supply from the article. A foot treadle is operated to initiatethe operation of pneumatic devices mechanically connected to the feedroll and cutter to operate the same in timed sequence. After severingthe tape, the feed roll feeds the tape to the next article.

This invention relates to apparatus for attaching a binding strip to theedge Vof an article. More particularly the invention involves devicesfor cutting and feeding a tape to a sewing machine which sews the tapeto the edges of shoe inner soles.

The invention is directed to an attachment for a heavy duty sewingmachine for sewing the binding tape to the edge of shoe inner soles. Theuse of such attachments, as are presently employed, require much moremanual labor than does applicants attachment. Devices presently in userequire the following steps: First the manual feeding of the tapebetween stationary guides by pushing and probing the tape to the sewingmachine feed, foot and needle. Second, the manual guiding of the solewhile the tape is being sewed to the edge of the inner sole. Third,manually cutting off the end of the tape b-y either scissors or apivoted knife. And fourth, the manual feeding of the cut end of the tapeby prying and probing said end into proper position for the sewing ofsaid end to the next inner sole. The feeding of said cut end of the tapeinto position for sewing is at present a time consuming operationoccurring after the binding of each inner sole. The operator first mustguide the sole so that the sewing of the trailing end of the tape to theprevious inner sole is completed and then pry, probe and push the tapesupply so that the fresh cut end will be in position to receive the nextinner sole for sewing.

In the use of the present invention, the tape is fed by the sewingmachine feed and the sole manually held and guided, by the operator asat present, however when the sewing of the tape to the sole is nearlycompleted the operator using the new device merely trips a foot treadlewhich causes pneumatic means to operate two devices in timed sequence.The first device cuts the tape and the second automatically feeds thecut-off end of the tape into position to receive the next inner sole andstops. During the operation of the automatic feed, the operator has bothhands free to guide the final sewing of the end of the tape to the innersole.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide asubstantially automatic preliminary feeding apparatus for feeding a tapeto a sewing machine for attachment to inner soles.

Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus whereby theinitial feeding of the tape to sewing position is greatly facilitatedand much of the manual manipulation now required for such initialfeeding is eliminated.

The numerous features and advantages of the inven- Patented Aug'. 15,1967 tion will be described in more detail in connection with theaccompanying drawings of one embodiment and particularly pointed out inthe claims.

In the drawings: FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the tape cutting andfeeding attachment for a sewing machine, the control elements beingindicated conventionally and the sewing machine omitted.

FIGURE 2 is a top view of the tape cutting and feeding devices and theirvari-ous operating parts.

FIGURE 2a is a detail of the extreme left end of a portion of FIGURE 2showing the abutment 48 and guide portion 49.

FIGURE 3 is a front view taken from the lower end of FIGURE 2 andshowing portions of the sewing machine and its relationship toapplicants apparatus.

FIGURE 4 is an end View taken from the left of FIG- URE 2 and showingthe cutter actuating means only.

Referring to the various figures in the drawings, the base plate towhich the dilferent units of' applicants device are attached is shown at1 in FIGURES 1, 2 and 4. To said base plate, the various supportingbrackets 2, 3 and 4 are iixedly attached as shown particularly in FIG-URE 1.

THE FEED UNIT Brackets 2 and 4, as shown in FIGURES 1, 2 and 3, supportthe feed unit which includes a pneumatic cylinder 5, one end -of whichis pivotally mounted on the top end of bracket 2 by a vertical stud 6.The cylinder S has a reciprocable piston therein, not shown, attached toa piston drive rod 7, which rod has a connecting element 8 adjustablymounted at 9 to the drive rod 7. Bracket 4, which is substantiallychannel shaped in cross-section (FIGURE 1), has a lower arm 19 of thechannel attached to base plate 1, and the upper arm 11 of the channeloverhanging said lower arm 1U. A shaft 12 is vertically journaled in thearms 10 and 11 of the bracket, and extends beyond the lower arm 10i.Between the arms of the bracket 4, the shaft 12 carries an inner portion13 of sprag, or one-way clutch 16, having a ring 14 with an arm 15,(FIGURES l and 2) adjustably attached to the inner portion 13 of thesprag clutch. The other element of the sprag clutch 16 is fixed to saidshaft 12. The outer end of the ring arm 15 is pivotally connected at 17to the outer end of the connecting element 8. As the piston drive rod 7is reciprocated by air pressure in cylinder 5, the arm 15 and ringelement 14 is oscillated, rst in a clockwise direction, and then in vacounterclockwise direction, to drive the one element 13 of the spragclutch 16, first in one direction and then the other. The other elementof said sprag clutch 16 drives the shaft 12 in one direction only.Fixedly attached to the shaft 12, below the sprag clutch 16, is arelatively large gear 18 which is driven by the shaft 12 as the shaft ismoved in said one direction. Beneath the lower arm 10 of the bracket 4,a lever 19 (FIGURES l and 3) having its inner end 20 journaled on theshaft 12, and the outer end 21 drilled to journal, a stub shaft 22. 'I'othe top end of stub shaft 22 is fixed a pinion gear 23 which meshes withthe teeth of the large gear 18. On the lower end of the stub shaft 22 isattached a friction drive wheel 24, arranged to contact a tape, notshown, which tape is to be fed by said friction drive wheel 24 towardthe left, as shown by the arrow in FIGURE 3. The outer end 21 of thelever 19 is urged toward said tape by spring 25, attached at one end tothe base plate 1 and at the other end to said lever end 21. Iournaled insaid base plate 1, to oppose said friction drive wheel, and in contactwith the tape, is a freely rotatable abutting roller 26 (FIGURE 2). Thetape is fed from right to left in FIGURE 3 between inner and outer guideelements 27 and 28 xed to the base 1. The inner guide 27 has a convexsurface, and the outer guide 28, has a complementary concave surface.

THE CUTTER UNIT Bracket 3, fixed to the base 1, carries yoke 30. Asecond pneumatic cylinder 31 has its rear end 32 pivotally journaled inthe yoke 30 by a horizontal pin 33. This cylinder 31 contains a piston,not shown, attached to a piston rod 34 extending from the forward end 35of the cylinder 31. The outer end lof the piston rod iixedly carries ablock 36. The base 1 also has attached thereto, as shown in FIGURE 4, asupport 39, and a knife-carrying lever 40 is pivoted at one end to saidsupport 39 by a pivot pin 41. The knife-carrying lever 4t) has anadjustable cutter blade 42 on its end further-most from the pivot pin41. Between the pivot pin 41 and the cutter blade 42, the knife-carryinglever 4t) is supported pivotally -by a pivot 43 on the forked lever 37.

When air pressure is connected to the rear end of cylinder 31, thepiston rod 34 is moved outwardly of the cylinder 31 and through block36, and forked lever 37, the knife-carrying lever 40 is activated tomove the cutter blade 42 down. At the end of the downward stroke of theknife lever, the air to the rear end of the cylinder is cut olf and airis admitted to the forward end 35 of the cylinder, and the linkagereturns the cutter blade to upper retracted position.

The guide elements 27 and 28 are attached to a guide plate member 46which is mounted on the base 1 as shown in FIGURES 1, 2 and 3. Theseguides have transverse yslits therethrough at 44 to accommodate thecutter blade. The guides also are cut away at 45 (FIGURE 1), to providea space through which the friction drive wheel 24 and the abuttingroller 26 (FIGURE 2) can contact the tape to feed it from right to leftin FIGURE 3. The guides 27 'and 28 extend beyond the guide plate member46 (FIGURE 2), -and the ends of the guides 27 and 28 form a 45 angle at47 through which the tape is fed. A portion of the guide plate membery46 extends beyond the base 1 and lies within the concavity of the guideelements 27 and 28. The portion of the guide plate mem-ber within theconcavity, forms an abutment 48 and the guide plate edge 49 beyond theabutment 48, forms a clearance space as it extends angularly toward thebase 1.

Numeral 50 in FIGURE 1 is a commercial pneumatic pressure supply andtiming device which device is connected -by tubes 51, 52, 53 and 54, tothe forward and rearward ends of cylinders and 31 `as diagrammatieallyshown in FIGURE l. Said pneumatic supply and timing device is operatedthrough a link 56 connected to a foot treadle 55 usually located on thefloor beneath the sewing machine.

A portion of the sewing machine is shown diagrammatically in FIGURE 3 at57, and the position of the sewing machine needle is indicated generallyat 58, in FIG- URES f2 and 3. The feed foot of the sewing machine isindicated at 59 in FIGURE 2.

Applicants device is attached to the base of the sewing machine byscrews 60 extending through plate 46 (FIG- URES 1 and 2),V the saidplate 46 having been fastened to base 1.

OPERATION The tape, which may be cloth, leather, plastic or othermaterial, is originally fed into applicants device manually in thedirection shown by the arrow to the right in FIGURE 3. It passes betweenthe guides 27 and 28, between the abutting roller 26, and the frictiondrive Wheel 24, across the slits 44 in the guide elements, and outwardlybeyond the angnilar ends of the guide elements.

With the tape in this position, the foot treadle S5 is actuated, and thepneumatic supply and timing device operates first to force air into thecylinder 31 at its rear end 32 as shown in FIGURE l. The piston rod 34is driven outwardly and through linkage 37 and 40, the knife or cutter44 is moved downwardly to cut off the initial end of the tape which isthrown away las waste. The air is then exhausted from the rear end ofthe cylinder 31 while a charge of air is introduced to the forward endof said cylinder 31 to retract the cutter. The cutter having beenretracted, air is introduced .to the rear end of cylinder 5 at 51, andpiston drive rod 7 is forced outward, in FIG- URE 1, actuating throughconnectingelement 8, ring arm 15 (FIGURES 1 and 2), sprag unit 13 and16, large gear 18, pinion gear 23 and friction drive wheel 24. Duringthis stroke of the piston drive rod 7, the friction drive wheel 24 isdriven counter-clockwise. Said friction drive wheel 24, being urged byspring 25, presses against the tape which is in turn backed by abuttingroller 26, and the rotation of the friction drive wheel 25 feeds thetape in the guides to the left, FIGURE 2, until the cut end of the tapeprojects beyond the diagonal ends of the guides. At this point, the airpressure to the rear end of cylinder 5 is released and air pressureadmitted to the forward end of cylinder 5 at 52 which moves the pistondrive rod 7 to the rear in FIGURE l, and through elements 8, 14 and 15,allows the spr-ag element 13 to move back to ini- -tial position. Thisaction, having been accomplished, the operation of applicants deviceautomatically stops. The operator presses an inner sole edge against theprojecting end of the tape and starts the `sewing machine to sew thetape to the edge of .said sole. During the sewing, the regular sewingmachine feed feeds the tape, and the operator holding the sole, pivotsit about abutment 48 of plate 46 so that the tape will always be sewedto the edge of the inner sole and the stitching will be equidistant fromthe edge of the sole. When the tape has been sewed substantially,completely around the edge of the sole, the operator presses thetreadleSS, which again initiates the operation of applicants device, tofirst cut the tape and then -feed ythe cut end into position for thenext inner sole. While applicants device is operating, the trailing endof the tape is being sewed to the first inner sole which is then putaside as finished `and the operator starts sewing the tape -on the nextinner sole.

From this oper-ation, it is obvious that the operators work is greatlyfacilitated and his attention is primarily directed merely to the sewingof the tape to the inner sole. With applicants device, the sewing oftape to the inner soles is a substantially continuous operation withoutany interruption such as is necessary in the operation of presentdevices.

We claim:

1. In combination with a sewing machine, a tape cut off and feed devicecomprising, a base; tape guides on said base; portions of said guidesbeing cut away to provide for feeding and cutting said tape; a frictionfeed element; means mounting said friction feed element to yieldinglyurge it into a cutaway portion of the guide means; means for actuatingsaid friction feed element intermittently in one direction; cuttermeans; means mounting said cutter means on said base forwardly of saidfriction feed element; and means for operating said cutter means intoand out of a cut-away portion of the guide means.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein there is provided a meansconnected to both the cutter operating means and the friction feedelement operating means for first operating said cutter operating meansand then operating said friction feed element operating means insequence.

3. In combination with a sewing machine, a tape cut olf .and feed devicecomprising a base; tape guides attached to .said base; there beingportions of said guides cut away to provide for feeding and cutting ofsaid tape; a friction feed wheel; means mounting said feed wheel toyieldingly urge it into a cutaway portion of the guides; means forrotating said feed wheel intermittently in one direction; ia cutter;means mounting said cutter on the base; means for operating said cutterinto and out of a cut-away portion of the guide means to cut the tape; atiming device; and means connecting said timing device to the cutteroperating means and the feed wheel rotating means to first operate saidcutter tand then rotate said feed wheel.

4. The combination of claim 3 wherein there is a movable abutment; meansmounting said movable abutment on the base in opposed relation to thefeed wheel; and said means for rotating the feed wheel and the means foractuating the cutter include separate pneumatic cylinders; and separatemeans connecting one of the pneumatic cylinders to the feed wheelrotating means and the other pneumatic cylinder to the cutter operatingmeans.

5. The combination of claim 4 wherein the movable abutment is a freelyrotatable roller.

6. In a shoe sole binding machine, the combination with a sewing machinehaving a reciprocating needle and a feed means; a binding tape feed andcutting means including an intermittently operated feed roller; andmeans for operating the same; complementary curved feed guides; saidfeed guides provided with an aperture through which the feed rollerprojects to contact and feed the tape; a cutoff device and means forreciprocatably o-perating the same to cut off the tape while it is heldbetween the guides; said guides having an angular .surface arranged toabut the sole and `guide the sole and tape to the sewing machine feedmeans and needle; timing means to rst operate the cutting device andthen operate the feed means in sequence, and then cease operation duringthe sewing of the tape to the sole; and means to control the starting ofthe operation of the cutoff and feed roll means.

7. In combination with a sewing machine, a tape cut off and feed devicecomprising, a base having an edge; means mounting said base to the baseplate of a sewing machine; tape guides having interior complementaryconcave and convex surfaces; means attaching the tape guides to the edgeof the base; said tape guides extending from adjacent the needle of thesewing machine rearwardly of the direction of feed of the tape; apivoted cutter, means mounting said cutter on the base at a positionrearwardly of the end of the guides adjacent the needle of the sewingmachine, said cutter passing through said guides transversely thereof;first pneumatic drive means, supporting means for the pneumatic drivemeans attached to the base and means connecting said pneumatic means tothe cutter to operate the same; a feed wheel having a circumferentialfriction surface; means mounting said feed wheel beside said guidesrearwardly of the pivoted cutter to project through said guides; afreely rotatable abutment r-oll, the circumferential surface of whichopposes the circumferential surface of the feed wheel; means mountingsaid abutment roll on the base; a second pneumatic drive means; meansmounting the second pneumatic drive means on the base; means connectingsaid pneumatic drive means to the feed wheel including clutch meanspreventing rotation of the feed wheel in one direction and causingrotation of the feed wheel in the other direction; timing meansconnected with said rst and second pneumatic drive means to cause theoperation of the cutter and then the operation of the feed wheel intimed relation, and a foot treadle to operate the timing means.

8. In a combination with a sewing machine, a tape cut off and feeddevice comprising, a base plate having an edge; means mounting said baseplate on the base of a sewing machine; tape guides having complementaryconcave and convex surfaces, said guides being discontinuous to providetwo sets of openings; means mounting said tape guides on said edge ofthe base plate; a friction feed wheel; a lever; a stud shaft; meansrotatably mounting said stud shaft on one end of the lever; meansfixedly attaching the friction feed wheel to one end of the stud shaft;a pinion gear; means xedly attaching said pinion gear to the other endof the stud shaft; a spring; means connecting one end of the spring tothe base plate, and the other end to said one end of lsaid lever, tocause the friction feed wheel to project through one set of guideopenings; a channel shaped bracket; means mounting one end of saidchannel shaped bracket on the base plate adjacent said edge, the otherend of said channel shaped bracket overhanging said first end; a shaft;journals in the ends of said channel shaped bracket for supporting saidshaft; means rotatably mounting the other end of said lever on the lowerend of said shaft; a drive gear; means fixedly attaching the -drive gearto said shaft to rotate therewith; the teeth of the drive gear meshingwith the teeth on the pinion gear; a one-way clutch including a driveelement and a driven element; means fixedly attaching the drivingelement of the clutch to the shaft; a ring having an arm thereon; meansjournaling said ring on said shaft; means attaching said ring to thedriven element of the clutch; a cylinder; means on the base pivotallysupporting said cylinder at one end; a piston and piston rod operatingin said cylinder; a pivot -connecting the arm to the outer end of thepiston rod; air pressure and timing means; means connecting the oppositeends of the cylinder to said air pressure and timing means; a secondcylinder; means on the base pivotally supporting said second cylinder;means connecting the opposite ends of said second cylinder to the airpressure and timing means; a second piston and piston rod in said secondcylinder; a forked member; adjustable means connecting s-aid forkedmember to the outer end of the second piston rod; a cutter bar; meanspivotally supporting said cutter bar at one end on lthe base plate; acutter; means fXedly attaching said cutter to the other end of thecutter bar; a link; means pivotally connecting one end of the link tothe forked member; means iixedly connecting the other end of the link tothe cutter bar intermediate its ends; said cutter moving through thesecond set of openings in the guides; one end of said guides forming anacute angle; a guide plate; means attaching said guide plate to thebase; said guide plate having a fiat portion extending into the acuteangle of the guide, a guide abutment and a receding portion beyond saidabutment; said cutter being located adjacent the acute angle portion ofthe guides and friction feed wheel being located rearwardly of thecutter device.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS PATRICK D, LAWSON, PrimaryExaminer.

1. IN COMBINATION WITH A SEWING MACHINE, A TAPE CUT OFF AND FEED DEVICECOMPRISING, A BASE; TAPE GUIDES ON SAID BASE; PORTIONS OF SAID GUIDESBEING CUT AWAY TO PROVIDE FOR FEEDING AND CUTTING SAID TAPE; A FRICTIONFEED ELEMENT; MEANS MOUNTING SAID FRICTION FEED ELEMENT TO YIELDINGLYURGE IT INTO A CUTAWAY PORTION OF THE GUIDE MEANS; MEANS FOR ACTUATINGSAID FRICTION FEED ELEMENT INTERMITTENTLY IN